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When the final whistle blows tonight at Honesdale High School, Mid Valley coach Frank Pazzaglia, who has 344 career wins, ranking fourth on Pennsylvania's all-time list, will have coached his final regular-season high school game.

He will miss the long, sometimes lonely, days and nights watching game films in a dark coaching office.

He will miss designing plays and intricate defenses.

He will miss the competition.

But most of all, he will miss the players.

It's the thousands of boys who have helped him build a legacy of excellence over more than 50 years as a coach at Blakely, Valley View and Mid Valley high schools.

"I am really going to miss the kids," Pazzaglia, 71, said. "I also liked dealing with the parents. I understood where parents were coming from, and I think that is important, too.

"But, yes, I am going to miss the youngsters, because they have meant so much to me."

As a player and quarterback at Blakely High School, the powerhouse team in Northeast Pennsylvania for a long time a generation ago, and at George Washington University, Pazzaglia dedicated himself in pursuit of perfection.

That passion kept him in the game and his quest kept him focused and intense on the practice field and the sidelines. You can see his energy as he motivates Mid Valley, which is clinging to a faint hope of making the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Each play he calls is an individual lesson and a question-and-answer review of rules, responsibilities and an opponent's tendencies.

In an instant, he can see if a player is misaligned by the smallest fraction. In his mind that fraction could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

He is also not afraid to point out the slightest adjustment, sometimes even receiving a bewildered shrug from a teenager not sure of its importance.

"I think coaching is more than just teaching a game," Pazzaglia said. "I think kids benefit so much from participating in a sport or a club, because it is so hands on, and you can teach how something so small in their eyes can be so vital for success."

He can be as strict as a drill sergeant, making sure with a quick snap and an authoritative boom to his voice, that players aren't too quick to remove their helmets on a practice field.

But Pazzaglia can also show his quick wit to lighten a mood at a frustrating practice. He is never short on historical references to foster levity in the most tense situations.

At this mid-week session, he reminded the Spartans not to be holding a "summit meeting" while a play was being explained, and that getting them together is sometimes as challenging as "getting the United States Congress to agree."

"That's what is great about him," said Mid Valley senior Matt Tanner, who admittedly had some anxiety when he learned that the legend was coming to coach his team in 2007. "He is tough on us, but he also makes us laugh. He's great like that."

His final bow

During a career where he has seen former players become fathers and grandfathers, Pazzaglia will take one final walk from the sideline.

It will be the last time he will work with his loyal assistant and confident, Tom Krempasky.

"It's been a great relationship," Krempasky said. "We never have had the big arguments. We don't always agree, but we have had enough common sense that we sit and talk it out. There isn't another coaching relationship like it in the state. He told me he was going to leave and it's still coming as a shock to me.

"We both have loved what we have been fortunate enough to do for a long time."

Through decades of dedication and hard work, Pazzaglia's earned the shower of appreciation from his peers and admiration of his players for 40 years of championships, glorious achievement and the fondest memories.

He has legions of supporters. And he has endured those who have been critical.

And he will leave proud.

"Maybe I had more critics than fans, I don't know, but I don't think, all in all, anybody really means any harm," Pazzaglia said. "They haven't affected me and what we have done. I always felt comfortable in what I was doing as a coach and as a teacher."

His no-nonsense approach built Valley View into the standard bearer of the Big 11. It has restored pride at Mid Valley.

His night will end closing his locker and maybe clearing his desk that is covered with countless file folders filled with scouting reports.

He might also even set the alarm at the Spartan Stadium fieldhouse and turn off the lights, as he has done so many times in the past.

Only then, will he likely take the time to reflect, having done it all his way.

"I never felt this was a job," said Pazzaglia, who is ready to spend more time with his wife Diane, and looking forward to the peace and serenity of a lake while fishing. "I never went into teaching or coaching looking at it as a chore, just waiting for it to end. It's ending for me now only because I felt is time.

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